The State Auditor Answered. Here Is What the Records Show.

On April 15, 2026, I sent a public records request to the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office asking for clear answers about Garfield Heights’ missing financial filings. On May 8, 2026, the AOS Open Government Unit responded. They sent records. The records speak for themselves.

What the Records Show

The State Auditor’s office shared the Unaudited Annual Report Filing Status Reports for fiscal years 2023, 2024, and 2025. Garfield Heights appears on each one. Here is what those reports document about our city specifically:

Fiscal Year	Due Date	Date Actually Filed	How Late
FY2023	5/29/2024	8/12/2025	14 months, 14 days
FY2024	5/30/2025	12/10/2025	6 months, 11 days
FY2025	5/30/2026	NOT STARTED	Deadline ~3 weeks away

The City of Garfield Heights — like every Ohio political subdivision — is required by Ohio Revised Code §117.38 to file an unaudited annual financial report with the State Auditor within 150 days of the close of its fiscal year (the GAAP-basis deadline that applies to Garfield Heights). The reports show our city ran 14 months past that deadline for FY2023, more than 6 months past it for FY2024, and as of May 8 had not yet started the FY2025 report.

What the Reissued FY21 Audit Reveals

The State Auditor also released the Revised Final FY2021 Audit Report for Garfield Heights — a reissued version of the audit they originally released on February 4, 2025. The reissue addressed federal pandemic relief programs (ARPA / Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds), but the underlying findings stand.

The 2021 audit identified three findings:

1. Finding 2021-001 — Financial Reporting (Material Weakness). The City’s financial-reporting controls were rated a material weakness, meaning errors material to the city’s financial statements could occur without timely detection.
2. Finding 2021-002 — General and Municipal Court Bank Reconciliation (Significant Deficiency). The audit found weaknesses in how the City reconciled cash on hand to its accounting records.
3. Finding 2021-003 — Pension Penalties (Finding for Recovery, $38,450.52). Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code §117.28, a Finding for Recovery was issued against then-City-Treasurer Barbara Biro and her bonding company, Western Surety, in the amount of $38,450.52 — public funds lost to late-payment penalties charged by the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System.

The City received repayment of the full $38,450.52 in three pieces during 2024:

• $13,450.52 from Barbara Biro (checks dated 5/31/2024 and 8/16/2024)
• $25,000.00 from Western Surety (her bond) on 7/26/2024

The full $38,450.52 is back in the City’s General Fund. The matter has been referred to OPERS and OP&F.

Questions the State Auditor Declined to Answer

I asked four other questions in my April 15 letter that the AOS responded to with the same statutory disclaimer: those questions seek information, not records, and Ohio’s Public Records Act covers records only. They cited State ex rel. Lanham v. Ohio Adult Parole Auth., 80 Ohio St.3d 425 (1997). They are technically correct.

The questions remain open:

• What enforcement actions has the AOS taken under ORC §117.38 — which provides a $25-per-day penalty for late filings — against Garfield Heights?
• What is the current status of the 2022 audit?
• What is the anticipated public release date for each of the outstanding audits (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)?
• Has the AOS identified any additional findings, concerns, or irregularities during its work on the 2022 audit, beyond the $38,450.52 issued in the 2021 audit?

I am refiling those questions as targeted public-records requests — for example, requesting records of any correspondence between the AOS and Garfield Heights regarding penalty enforcement under §117.38 for the period 2021 to present. Records of correspondence are records. They have to be produced.

What Residents Can Do

• Verify these filings yourself. The State Auditor’s filing-status reports are public, posted at ohioauditor.gov/references/SummarizedAnnualFinancialReports/.
• Read the reissued FY2021 audit. It is on the AOS website, and a copy is on file with the City.
• Show up to a Garfield Heights City Council meeting and ask the questions the State Auditor — quite properly — said are not theirs to answer:
  • Why was the FY2023 unaudited report 14 months late?
  • Why was the FY2024 report 6 months late?
  • When will the FY2025 report be filed?
  • When is the City going to publish the outstanding 2022 audit?

The State Auditor sent the data. The data is clear. The next conversation belongs in council chambers.

---

Source documents on file: Mr. Dudley’s Public Records Request to the Ohio Auditor of State, dated April 15, 2026 · AOS Open Government Unit response email, dated May 8, 2026 · Unaudited Annual Report Filing Status Reports for FY2023, FY2024, FY2025 (Ohio Auditor of State) · City of Garfield Heights, Cuyahoga County — Revised Final Audit Report for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021 (Ohio Auditor of State).